SACRAMENTO – Today Speaker Anthony Rendon announced the reappointment of Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) as chair of the Assembly Health Committee.
“I am grateful to be given the privilege of continuing to serve as chair of the Assembly Health Committee,” said Wood. “We tackled some difficult issues last session, and working with our colleagues from across the aisle, we tightened restrictions on the sale of tobacco to young people, protected consumers from unwarranted billing when receiving care from in-network health care providers, increased children’s access to preventive health care and mental health services, improved access to investigational drugs for seriously ill patients and improved food safety, to name a few.”
In the coming year, the committee will continue to address the cost of prescription drugs, opioid abuse and children’s health, but much time is expected to be spent responding to actions expected by the new administration in Washington, DC. “The administration of President-elect Donald Trump and his nomination of Rep. Tom Price as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services certainly poses concerns and challenges for California and for us as policy makers,” said Wood. “Price’s perspective is as far away from California’s policies as you can imagine and the nominee’s prior proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act could roll back years of the progress in providing health care coverage to our citizens.”
There are 13.5 million Californians covered by Medi-Cal – more than a third of the state’s population – and a large percentage live in rural districts. Of the 10 counties with the highest share of residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, six are in the Central Valley, many of which are represented by Republican legislators and members of Congress. All six counties have more than 44 percent of the population enrolled in Medi-Cal and one of those counties, Tulare, is the highest at 55 percent.
“With this challenge upon us, it will be critically important to work with both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature as well as our Congressional delegation,” emphasized Wood. “The folks living in the Central Valley have the most to lose if the new administration reduces Medicaid funding and repeals the ACA.” Wood noted that “Two of the counties I represent – Del Norte and Mendocino – fall into that top 10 and that hits very close to home for me.”
As chair of the committee, Wood will continue to advocate for maintaining the health coverage Californians have, including access to women’s health services, prescription coverage, health care for undocumented children and will fight any change that would negatively impact access to preventive services.
“Changes to the ACA will affect real people, all across our state,” said Wood, “and how we address it, staying true to our values, will require commitment and dedication from every California representative to keep the best interests of our constituents first and foremost in our minds.”
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Since 2014, Assemblymember Jim Wood (D- Healdsburg) has represented the 2nd Assembly District, which includes all of Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt and Mendocino counties, plus northern and coastal Sonoma County, including the northern half of Santa Rosa.
CONTACT: Cathy Mudge, 916.319.2002